A familiar Stranger
by Doctor Cartman
Summary: The first time he saw her was during a small case in a just as small country town. The girl had just been sitting there, reading quietly, but slowly tapping her foot on the floor, seeming completely focused on her book – that of cause would have been what he would have thought if he wasn't so damned used to being undercover himself. A short fiction in which Dean meets Hermione R/R
1. Chapter 1

**A familiar stranger? By Doctor Cartman**

The first time he saw her was during a small case in a just as small country town. They had been questioning a witness, a librarian that despite seeing someone getting slaughtered by a monster insisted on returning to work only a few days later.

The girl had just been sitting there, reading quietly, but slowly tapping her foot on the floor, seeming completely focused on her book – that of cause would have been what he would have thought if he wasn't so damned used to being undercover himself.

It was that almost invincible flicker of her eyes, or that way she had turned her head slightly in their directing to seemingly get a betting hearing range.

His hunters instinct had reacted and he had observed her carefully for any of the usual danger signs, but non were to be seen, and he had a hard time not noticing how pretty she actually was. It wasn't the kind of slutty pretty, but that innocent and pure kind of pretty. She looked younger than both of the brothers, but not too young for him to take interest in her. The way she ran her pen over her lower lip made Deans mind wander places it was not appropriate to be at the exact moment.

It wasn't until Sam cleared his throat he realized he had been staring her up and down for way too long and he finally turned his attention back to the librarian. He tried the best he could to keep his focus during the interview, but couldn't help but let his eyes wander to the strange girl sitting only a few tables away. He could have sworn he saw a little smirk playing at the corner of her lips, like she was completely aware of the nature of his thoughts towards her.

When the brothers walked past her on their way out she didn't even lift her gaze from the book she held in front of her, and an almost whispered "Christo" left Deans lips, but nothing happened. Not even the smallest shift in posture. Nothing. Sam had shot him a sideway glance before scanning the room for threats, when finding nothing turning his eyes back to his older brother with the unspoken question written all over his face. Dean shook his head and Sam had learned not to question everything when it came to his brother's actions.

Weeks went by with nothing new, but the usual hunts that were a familiar part of their life, and after a particularly nasty hunt they decided to take a small break in the next town over. That's where he saw her again, this time not in a library but in the local bar. She was sitting in the corner chatting with an older looking guy – older than Dean, but judging from their body language it wasn't exactly flirting. Not that he would have cared of cause. Why would he care if a girl he only seen one time before and never even exchanged a word with, if the 'Christo' wasn't counted in, was talking with some other obviously too old guy.

He turned back to chatting up the waitress, but noticed out of the corner of his eye the girl standing up and walking towards the exit. As soon as the door had closed behind her, he excused himself and carefully followed her making sure her companion wasn't look his way. Fortunately for him the guy seemed rather occupied by the phone he held awkwardly and Dean was able to slip out the door without being noticed.

She hadn't made it far down the street and he could easily follow her, adjusting his pace so it fitted hers, keeping a good and constant distance between them. She suddenly turned a corner and he had to hold himself back from jogging after her. Only a few seconds later he turned the same corner, coming to a halt when he's met by a completely deserted street, a few street lights out. With long strides he began walking up the street while trying to figure out where the hell she could have gone, because no human being could be that fast.

It took him twenty-five minutes before he gave up on his search and returned to the impala parked just outside the bar, and drove back to the motel where him and Sam were staying at the moment. He couldn't help but have the feeling of being watched and the moment he entered the motel room, he salted the doors and windows before checking his guns. Sam watched the whole process from his half-asleep state on the bed farthest away from the door. It took Dean another three hours and some help from his good old friend Jack Daniels before finally calming down enough to go to sleep.

Three months had passed by since then and he had still not seen as much as a glimpse of the mysterious girl, and not enough with it nagging him, he kept having that feeling of being watched. Sam had typically him pulled one of his chick flick moments on him and forced Dean to tell him what had been bothering him, and after questioning over and over again if he was sure it was the same girl, Sam had come to the conclusion that he honestly didn't know what to think. They didn't mention it again.

Almost a year had gone by like that. He would see her while they were working a case, almost always with her eyes glued to the pages of a new book. He would observe her from afar, not really sure what was keeping him from simply walking over to her, asking why she kept showing up.

Some weird unpleasant feeling would manifest itself in the back of his head, slowly running down his spine ice cold, sending chills all over his body, before finally settling itself in his abdomen. There were even times where the feeling was so strong he couldn't even look straight at her and it wasn't until he was inside his car, long away from her he was able to collect his thoughts again.

It had been four weeks since Dean had had the last encounter with the strange girl, when he saw her again, the unpleasant feeling filling him again and clouding his mind.

Him and Sam had split up looking for clues to their latest case, involving a very angry spirit, Sam had as always gone to the library to do his research and Dean had gone to the park where the last victim had been hanging out before he had been attacked. Dean had been walking down one of the many paths when he had noticed a figure leaned against a tree looking over the small lake in front of her.

It took all of his strength to not run away, and after taking a few unsteady breaths he began walking towards her with shaking legs. The all to familiar feeling grew within him making it almost unbearable to continuingly set one foot in front of the other and keep walking.

She must have heard him coming because she turned around looking confused at him before taking a small step back, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Dean locked eyes with her, but instead of yelling from the top of his lungs, asking what the hell was going on, he grabbed her face and pulled her lips almost violently to his. He could feel her freeze beneath his lips but he couldn't have cared less as he shoved her back against the tree. Her mouth fell open in a silent gasp and he slipped his tongue into her mouth. That was when she finally responded. That was when the force field around her disappeared.

She kissed him back just as enthusiastically as him, as he used his whole body to keep her against the tree. Slowly his hands fell from her face to her hips where they rested for a while before he pulled her out slightly so he could slip his hands around the small of her back. She responded by hooking her arms around his neck pulling him if possible closer.

The heated kiss slowly evolved into something far more tender and he could feel his lips burning and tinkling when he finally pulled away from her, leaning his forehead against hers looking deeply into her beautiful brown eyes.

With that he let go of her and walked away, not even bothering to look back as he heard a snap. He knew she was long gone.

From that point of whenever he saw her, he wasn't filled with horror. His mind didn't fall apart. She was just there, like a natural part of his everyday surroundings. Weeks could pass by without her showing up, but he always knew that she wasn't gone for good. It was sort of nice, to have something familiar with him where ever he went. A bit like when he was a kid and he had an imaginary friend that followed him around – not that he would ever admit that he had ever had one.

He didn't know why she kept showing up where ever they went. How she did it or for that sake knew anything of importance. He knew she preferred tea over coffee and that she crinkled her nose if she drank coffee whereas she seemed completely relaxed and pleased when she sat back sipping her tea. Besides the little things he noticed about her; small habits with tapping her foot or scratching her arm when she was trying to decide what the order, he also noticed how she was always reading something, and she had a little frown on her face whenever she read the paper, like it didn't please her what she saw, but then she would cast the paper aside and turn to her books instead and a happy expression would fill her eyes. He knew that look way too good. It was the same Sammy had – it was the same everyone like the brothers had. While Dean got drunk to forget about the horrible things he had seen, his brother read and so it seemed the mystery girl did.

He didn't know if he would ever get any answers to his questions, but he knew one thing and that was he didn't care because for once in his life, something was at peace.

_A/N: Okay, I'm not really sure why I suddenly decided I wanted to write a Dean/Hermione story in the middle of the night, because Destiel is a ship that I will go down with (seriously!) and I just love Romione._

_Thinking about maybe writing another chapter/sequel where they actually talk, and she explains who she is. Any thoughts?_

_Thank you for reading and hopefully putting up with gramma/spelling mistakes. My original language isn't English and my own language always seems to influence my English in one way or another._

_Please drop of a review _


	2. Chapter 2

**A familiar Stranger by Doctor Cartman **

Chapter 2

Rolling over in his on his crappy motel bed, Dean looked at the clock standing on the nightstand seeing that the shining numbers increased his irritation.

04.00 and he still hadn't managed to fall asleep yet. He looked to Sam's sleeping form in the other bed, listening to his low snoring, before quietly getting to his feet and walking to the closed bathroom door. He didn't turn on the lights until the door was firmly closed behind him. There was no need for his brother to wake up, and start bickering about Dean's unhealthy sleeping rhythms. It wasn't like it was his own fault that he couldn't sleep.

It was this case they were working on that kept him up at night. It simply wouldn't let him rest. The two brothers had been there for about a week now and they had still not made any progress in finding out what the hell was going on in this town, it was seriously beginning to get to him.

He looked him self in the mirror, studying the dark marks under his eyes evidence of his lack of sleep before he turned around and leaned against the sink, sighing deeply. This was really getting on his nerves.

It had seemed like one of their usual low time and town cases. The ones where they went in strong and were out again before anyone began noticing them. But this was different. No one, literally no one had seen anything. There had been no violent deaths before the suicides started happening. Nothing. One day a cold mist had lowered itself over the town and it's townspeople, and before the next month had passed three people had taken their own lives.

The two brothers had followed their normal procedure and interviewed the victims' relatives and friends, who had all said the same thing: they had all gone through previous depressions but all gotten over them. Some of them had been free of it for years, before they suddenly took a turn down a dark path again.

It wasn't just the victims' moods that had taken a downwards-going curve; the whole town had a tension and a fear hanging over it, and Dean would lie if he said he couldn't feel the fear himself rumbling in the pit of his stomach and slowly edging its way into his conscious. Sam could feel it too, not that he had admitted it but Dean knew him better than his own back pocket.

He couldn't determent what exactly he was afraid of because at the moment it seemed like everything around him came crashing down even though nothing had changed since they put a stop to the apocalypse.

A luring fear of being ripped apart was pulling him down into a black pit in the back of his mind – a place he at this point knew too well.

But it wasn't all that was bothering; it was also the fact that he could feel somehow that he needed someone who was not there. He needed the strange girl. Why this thought had showed up he did not know, but now it was there it'd not go away again. Every time they entered the little dinner around the corner of the street where they were staying, he would let his eyes wander over the tables looking for his almost all too familiar stranger, only to not find her anywhere. He got more and more disappointed for each day that passed by without her presence.

It was an irrational feeling, because honestly: what the hell was she supposed to do? Of cause she had to know that the supernatural existed, but she hadn't got the hunters look over her. She sure seemed like she had seen her share of evil, just not the same way they had. She looked more like a soldier returned from a war zone, and the only thing that kept him from believing that was the fact that she was absolutely tiny. No way any military would let her in.

Another two days passed by with nothing and their non-existing patience was wearing thinner than usual. That was when they decided to change strategy; instead of sticking their heads into books and papers doing research plus interviewing people who clearly had no clue as to what was happening, they set their way out onto the streets. If people hadn't seen anything maybe it was maybe because they were simply not looking for the right thing.

All day the two brothers wandered around town looking up and down the empty streets without seeing anything that could give a hint as to what was going on. Of cause the fog that seemed to constantly cover this town giving it all an even more claustrophobic look, didn't make their task easier.

It was a little past midnight when the brothers finally gave up and began walking back towards the motel they were staying at. The temperature had suddenly taken a large drop, and Dean pulled his jacket tighter around him, not really understanding how he could have been sweating for what seemed to be half an hour ago. Dean could even see his own breath at this point and he turned his head slightly looking to Sam who seemed to having the same thoughts and kept throwing glances over his shoulder with a more than just slightly paranoid look in his eyes.

Dean scanned the street and listened carefully for even the lowest footstep giving away an enemy, while he at the same time pulled out his gun holding it ready for an attack which felt like could happen any second now. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Sam copy his actions, pulling out a gun of his own still stealing glances over his broad shoulders. His fear grew along with his heart rate to the point where he could hear it pounding.

That was when he saw it; a hooded figure gliding along the street slowly. His eyes racked over it the form, completely black almost like a shadow. No feet were touching the ground, it seemed like it was hoovering a few inches above the pavement. The closer it got the colder the air surrounding them got, and Dean could feel his worst nightmares fill him, memories from his time in Hell starting to surface – A shot rang through the street. Sam had lifted his gun and was firing at the figure but the bullets seemed to have no effect on it. Dean himself tried aiming at it but sensed the corner of his sight growing darker and darker. Next to him Sam fell to the ground gasping for air. The older brother could feel his legs shaking under his weight and before a second had passed, he was on the ground next to his brother trying to shake him awake again while muttering his name over and over again. They needed to get out of there before the creature got them both. He could see a tear rolling down his younger brothers face and he leaned over trying to shield him from the black figure, which was now only a few feet away from them.

Dark memories took over his sight and he fought to keep focus on the street surrounding him, but it was slowly and surely drifting away. Replaced by images. Sounds clearly not coming from the street began to fill him. The muffled screams of tortured souls mixed with the memory of his brother lying dead in his arms, and he could feel the tears starting to roll down his cheeks. It seemed like the 40 years in Hell filled him in a matter of seconds. His throat tightened leaving him breathless on the ground.

He held on tighter to Sam doing his best shielding him from the creature, when a loud snap brought him back to conscious. Even though Dean knew what it announced he wasn't filled with the hope and happiness he had been expecting.

An unfamiliar female voice filled the pressing silence with the words he comprehended to be "Expecto Patronum!" nothing happened for a second, then there was an almost blinding light in the dark alley and small animal, what looked like an otter, appeared beside him. He could feel a warmness starting to evolve around him as well as inside him – a warmness he had never thought he would feel again, but he could tell it was to late as exhaustion was creeping in on him, leaving his mind in a peaceful and the last thing he remember seeing was the strangers – no _his _strangers concerned brown eyes burned into his green as she leaned in over him, whispering words he did not understand but seemed to sooth his mind as everything went black.

_First of all: _

_THANK YOU for the reviews and follows! They really made my day_

_Okay since there were some really positive responses on chapter 1, I've decided to give it a try and make this into a (a bit) longer story. Not sure how long since I've never written anything longer than two chapters…. But seeing that I have summer vacation at the moment I should have the time write this. _

_If anyone got any further input to the story, feel free to share it with me, either in a comment or message me. Anyways: leave a review/comment and make my day. _

_Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it – even though I found it __**very **__hard to write something this emotional and still keep them in character. _


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